Hi all Metis boards, I wanted to bring to your attention a serious issue with Metis Training. My name is Don Krilow. I was once Region 2 Director and was President and VP of several Metis Communities in the past. I suffered a severe work injury which has left me in severe intractable pain and life expectancy of up to 10 years. The stopped me from being involved with Metis issues. I am unable to work and on a disability pension and still fighting WorksafeBC for over 10 years. My son, Paul Krilow, applied for and was approved funding. Metis Training dropped the ball. They did not do the required tasks on time so my son courses were all cancelled. When we into advocate for him at his request we were denied this right. What I asked for was very reasonable yet no help. Our youth seem to matter little to the people in power now. Mr. Dumont would not even return my call. Clara talked to me and said what was happening was unacceptable. After that she will not return my emails. My son was counting on applying for student loans and getting the federal dependant disability amount as I am totally disabled, now that is gone. Saying "we missed it" is not satisfactory when dealing with our youth neither is doing nothing when Metis Training admit to causing the problem. I mean we are dealing with individuals elected by our people to represent them. Not being done here. So they have left me with: filing an official complaint with my MP, MLA and filing a Discrimination complaint. This will cost the Metis Nation a lot more than helping and paying back the deposit we have lost. I ask you if this is acceptable behaviour from our elected representatives towards our youth? They say this has happened to more than one person. Any help or advice any of you could provide would be greatly appreciated. I would also like to apologise for not being active in our community in the last few years. I have great difficulty in driving and sitting for any length of time and do not sleep very much but I still feel bad about not being more involved. Maybe if I could have done more this might not have happened. My warmest regards to all of you. Take care. Don Krilow 604 463 5521 donkrilow@telus.net - ----Original Message----- From: Don Krilow [mailto:donkrilow@telus.net] Sent: September 11, 2015 9:33 AM To: 'cmorin-dalcol@mnbc.ca' <cmorin-dalcol@mnbc.ca> Subject: FW: Follow up Hi Clara, As a citizen I have asked for your direct involvement and you have not responded. I gather then that you agree with what is being done and their response. Paul and I will be meeting with the MP today and contacting the appropriate HRDC contacts. A discrimination complaint will be launched by noon. We had identified he has fairly bad social anxiety issues. We said Paul asked for us to advocate for him on this. We have included a letter from Paul confirming this.
We would have given the letter to Gayle but she would not meet with us. She said Arlene told her to do this and had a right to speak to him alone. SO what does Paul get for trying to better himself. Nothing. Lost time and money which we do not have. No apology except some off hand we are sorry included in some reply trying to shift the blame and promising little. You as minister have a direct responsibility for what is going on. I have asked for your help and no response. Mr. Dumont values our youth so little he could not return my call. I will include all the emails in my communications with the local Presidents as I am sure they will be interested. I have also contacted the Human Rights Coalition. They said to file a complaint and that you had made mistakes and now compounded them. This could have been resolved with very little effort but instead they have made a mess and it will cost our people a lot more. It feels like I am dealing with people with large ego's and that feel very self-important. You seemed to be actually caring and wanted to help when I talked to you. What has changed? You are elected representatives for our people. Is this good leadership I ask? I would have hoped for more. Regards. Don Sent: September 10, 2015 4:36 PM To: Don Krilow <donkrilow@telus.net> Cc: Clara Morin Dalcol <cmorin-dalcol@mnbc.ca>; cool_paws@live.com Subject: RE: Follow up Good afternoon Don, Thank you very much for raising your concerns with us. I respect your opinion and appreciate the strong conviction you have for your son's future. At this point, if Paul should have any concerns I would suggest that he contact me directly. If he would like assistance with job search or resume writing, Paul should contact Gayle Sayese at our Surrey office to set up an appointment. Again, thank you very much for bringing your concerns forward. Take care, Arlene From: Don Krilow [mailto:donkrilow@telus.net] Sent: September-10-15 10:41 AM To: Arlene Lambert Cc: Clara Morin Dalcol Subject: FW: Follow up Hi Arlene, There are some errors here. One Paul had his application in early and was told to wait till he got his courses to submit his invoice. He said the
deadline was approaching and was told repeatedly not to worry. Paul said he wanted us in the meeting as we had some suggestions but we were refused. This was his right. Gayle refused to meet with us together so he had little choice but to talk to her. As we identified he has social anxiety disorder, which I might add this process has made worse, and as such his request to have us there as advocates was reasonable and necessary. We will be taking further action on this matter as you were very wrong on denying this right. Solutions such as trying to get in another school at this late time are unrealistic and as you work at a college I know you are well aware of this. All schools have application deadlines as well as long wait lists. He has no choice but to delay his start to January, if he gets in. You know I do understand that mistakes happen but then every effort should be made to resolve them. I can see why our youth have so many problems. It begins with this type of treatment by our very own people. I ask you how would you like to be treated like this? If it were your son and he asked you to advocate for you because he has a hard time with social anxiety would you like having this right denied? There are both HRDC regulation and disability accommodation laws in place giving him this right. He told me he felt like he was being treated like a "stupid kid" and brushed off. So far the response has been lacklustre to say the least. You cannot even guarantee that he will get his deposit back only that you will try. So I ask you to carefully think about what has been done. I have also learned that Paul is not the only person this has happened to. The result I asked for in my email was very reasonable and do-able. Do you think that we really needed this mess? This should have been easy to deal with. There should be a plan in place to deal with issues such as this. So now Paul and I, as he asked me to help him with this mess, are stuck with the decision to: take this to my MP, filing a complaint with HRDC, investigation into and filing a complaint under the duty to accommodate laws, plus communicating to all Provincial Community Presidents that this is happening. I will also make a point of attending the AGM with a number of Metis people to make our voice heard. Do I want to do this? No. It will take a great toll on me because of my disability but I am Metis and this is my son. So I ask once again for a reasonable response: 1.) you have already set aside money for January- so that is good - Thankyou. 2.) a letter to Paul apologising for your mistake in not sending payment to the school on time and for not allowing him to have an advocate present as he requested. 3.) Immediate assistance in gaining employment - They should be calling Paul to set up an appointment. 4.) an explanation of why this happened and what corrective actions have been taken so this does not happen again. 5.) an apology letter to my wife Donna and I for not allowing us to be in
the meeting to advocate for our son and confirmation this will not happen again. 6.) confirmation that you will pay the deposits that were paid to the school back to Paul or conversely you will pay the deposit for the new term. We are on a fixed income and cannot afford to be throwing away money due to the inability of Metis Training to do their job. We will have to absorb all the other money and time spent on this as well as now somehow support Paul longer than anticipated. This is difficult to say the least. I will wait till noon for a response. I hope you will be reasonable. Thank you. Don Sent: September 9, 2015 4:43 PM To: Don Krilow (donkrilow@telus.net) <donkrilow@telus.net> Subject: RE: Follow up Good afternoon Don, Thank you very much for forwarding your concerns. I would like to clarify a few matters in your email. Paul does not have a funding agreement for a two year term. His agreement is for one year only. I have already agreed that Paul's correct phone number was on file. Files can take up to eight weeks to process and approve, depending on the complexity of the file. We do not send pre-payments to training institutes. We forward a sponsorship form that acts as a purchase order for the institute. Gayle asked to speak to Paul, the client who signed the agreement, alone so he could speak openly about the situation. She asked Paul if he was okay with it and he said yes. Solutions were presented to Paul but he does not want to pursue those solutions. He indicated he may like to delay his start to January 2016. Funding for his courses have been set aside. We are extremely apologetic and have expressed that repeatedly to Paul. For the deposits, please forward me copies of the detailed receipts. The receipt(s) will need to show how much was paid and which course it was for. Please feel free to scan these to me to expedite the process. I cannot guarantee a refund of these amounts but I can assure you I will do the best I can. Paul did not disclose any student loans in his application. If Paul would like some assistance in seeking employment, please have him contact our office. We will do the best that we can do to find him a position that reflects his future education. Your home number is not the primary contact number in Paul's file. I have never tried to lay blame on Paul. It was our error and we have repeatedly admitted that. The reason I wanted to know if he received the emails was because if KPU had sent them to an erroneous email, they would be obligated to reinstate Paul. I do not know who told him not to worry about the emails as we were not aware of the emails being received by Paul until
after he was deregistered. Student files are monitored and audited on a regular basis. As I mentioned in a prior email, I have not completed my investigation into the events yet. I have been focused on finding a timely resolution for Paul. We asked Paul to go on the wait lists so we could leverage that with KPU to get him into other related courses. Unfortunately, Paul chose to de-register from all courses. I respect his decision but it did limit some of our options. I am attaching the letter that was forwarded to Paul by Gayle that summarizes the discussions during the meeting today. If you have any further concerns or would like to suggest another method of enrolling Paul in this semester, please feel free to give me a call. Take care, Arlene From: Don Krilow [mailto:donkrilow@telus.net] Sent: September-09-15 4:00 PM To: Arlene Lambert Cc: Clara Morin Dalcol; Glen Ohs; Annette Maurice; Bruce Dumont Subject: RE: Follow up Hi Arlene, There are some very serious issues here. He was told he could not get any of the courses and so dropped them. He has a funding agreement for a 2 year term for a specific program. Taking courses that are irrelevant to goals, and most of them are full, is not what was agreed upon. He could not get to Richmond from Maple Ridge in any reasonable amount of time. Paul's correct number is on file and we have a voicemail from Tina when she said not to worry so the number is correct. Metis Training were told by us on several occasions that it was taking too long to get this approved as Paul got the costs in right away, and was told not to worry. It took until after the deadline to get the funding agreement and then once again we were told not to worry. Except due diligence was not applied and the payment was not sent. My wife and I went with Paul today to meet with Gayle because he asked us to advocate for him. Paul is our son! We were denied this right by Gayle when she refused to meet with us and said it was her right to meet Paul alone. This is both against government regulation and contrary to our cultural beliefs. She then offered Paul no solutions. No apology, just that "we (being Metis Training) missed putting the stuff in". We had a training agreement which you (MNBC) voided by not making required payment in a timely manner. Paul had all the correct courses and now none. You think you would at least be apologetic and try to help him. He was told he would have to go through it all again with no guarantee. No repayment of the deposits paid that are now gone. Not even an offer of help to get a job. He was going to get student loans and a government disability amount as I am disabled, to support him.
Now none. Just a brush off, denying our right to advocate for our son and "we missed it". We have voicemail and caller id so I can tell you there were not multiple attempts made to our home number. Paul got the warning emails but as he was told "not to worry" he thought they would be taken care of. Are not student files monitored? Who did not do their job? I find it somewhat surprising that you would try to lay any blame on Paul for someone's incompetence in your office. This is not the way we expect our people to be treated by our own people. When you make an error of this magnitude concerning the future of our youth, one would hope for a more constructive and reasonable approach to resolution. Why not try to help to correct the problem instead of trying to blame Paul? You would have thought at the very least you would guarantee funding and assistance in getting into next term, repayment of the lost deposits, assistance in gaining him employment ASAP so he can live to next term, a written and direct apology to Paul, an investigation and actions taken to correct whomever "missed it". I would say this is very reasonable, as Gayle said, "you missed it". Unfortunately so did Paul. I have CC'ed Clara, the Lower Mainland director as well as President and VP as this is a great disservice to our youth and they need to be aware of what is going on. Don Sent: September 9, 2015 1:35 PM To: Don Krilow (donkrilow@telus.net) <donkrilow@telus.net> Cc: Clara Morin Dalcol <cmorin-dalcol@mnbc.ca>; Gayle Sayese <gayle@mnbc.ca> Subject: Follow up Hi Don, Thank you very much for forwarding your concerns to Clara. As I am more actively involved, I felt it would be best if I respond to you directly. I spoke to Gayle yesterday right after Paul notified her that he chose to drop his courses. It is unfortunate that he did not speak to Gayle in advance. The reason we wanted him to register is that we then would have leverage with KPU to either get him into the current courses or to try to have them open another class. Many of the colleges will open additional courses if the wait list is significant or they will increase the maximum number in the class. We would have needed to put him into only two other courses in order for your other funding to take effect or for MNBC to provide living allowances. I do respect Paul's decision to drop (one is in Richmond, the other was online). However, by doing so it has greatly limited our options. Gayle was able to reach Paul on the number in the file after multiple attempts. Paul did let Gayle know that he did in fact receive the warning emails from KPU saying he was going to be de-registered. My understanding is that there is a 1:30 meeting today between Paul and Gayle and I am confident we will be able to get a joint course of action to move forward on this. As per Gayle's discussions with Paul, he is considering a January 2016 start date. We are more than prepared to set the
funds to the side for him on a later start date. Until the meeting is completed and options are reviewed, I cannot explain what is being done to rectify the situation. I am in the preliminary stages of investigating exactly took place as I have primarily focused on getting a resolution as quickly as possible for Paul. I do not know if it was because anyone was away or sick. I have not researched it that far yet but I can assure you I will be investigating it further. If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call.take care, Arlene Lambert From: Clara Morin Dalcol Sent: September-08-15 4:00 PM To: Arlene Lambert Subject: Fw: donkrilow@telus.net ----- Original Message ----- From: Don Krilow [mailto:donkrilow@telus.net] Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2015 02:35 PM To: Clara Morin Dalcol Subject: FW: donkrilow@telus.net Hi Clara, I hope you are well. I talked to Paul a few minutes ago and he said he dropped both courses as he said there was no chance in getting enough courses and Gayle confirmed that he could not get into any of the courses. He is very demoralized. He has been sleeping all morning. He talked to Gayle and she wants to meet with him tomorrow at one to explain what happened. What good is this? What does he do now? Gayle has my phone number and the phone number on file is correct. They know this and it has been confirmed. Please explain what will be done to fix this. This is not acceptable. I and my wife will be at tomorrow's meeting after which if there is no further effort to resolve this issue I will take this to the media and my MP. I will also email all provincial presidents and directors. If youth are going to be hurt by what I can only see as incompetence then this funding program should be investigated and corrective measures implemented immediately. Saying someone was sick or there was an emergency is not good enough. It is then the managers responsibility to make sure that all deadlines are met and contract obligations are adhered to. This was not done and now my son suffers. A great way to look after our youth. Now he will lose 4 months and no guarantee of anything. If you are a parent then how would feel? Thanks. Don ----Original Message----- Sent: September 8, 2015 11:49 AM To: Don Krilow <donkrilow@telus.net>
Cc: Gayle Sayese <gayle@mnbc.ca> Subject: RE: donkrilow@telus.net Hi Don, Sponsorship forms for books and tuition have been forwarded to KPU. We do not actually pay money to the college for the books but rather guarantee eligible purchases to a specific amount and then we are invoiced directly for authorized purchases. Gayle is trying to reach Paul. The direct contact number on his file is out of service so she emailed him this morning (to the email we have on file). Please, please have Paul contact Gayle as soon as possible at the Surrey office to discuss the options. Thanks, Arlene Arlene G. Lambert, CPA, CGA Acting Director - Metis Employment and Training Phone: 1-800-940-1150 From: Don Krilow [donkrilow@telus.net] Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2015 11:42 AM To: Arlene Lambert Cc: Clara Morin Dalcol; Gayle Sayese Subject: RE: donkrilow@telus.net Hi there, We are wondering what is happening? We managed to find a second course, Statistics via distance education that he can get. That is all. The wait lists have not moved and there are no other courses he can take. The program is designed so that you first do several courses which are prerequisites to other courses. Also Paul said there was no amount for books paid to the school. Is this correct? So what is he supposed to do now? He needs a full course load to get student loan and disability amount from the federal government to help pay for his upkeep and costs. We need to know what is going on as if he needs to get book, etc, we have to do this. Please let us know as soon as possible. Regards. Don Sent: September 4, 2015 4:53 PM To: donkrilow@telus.net Cc: Clara Morin Dalcol <cmorin-dalcol@mnbc.ca>; Gayle Sayese <gayle@mnbc.ca> Subject: donkrilow@telus.net Hi Don, Clara notified me that Paul was able to re-register for some of his courses. Once we know which courses he may get into we can work with Kwantlen and Paul to see if we can get him into some other related courses if necessary. Many of our clients are taking courses out of order and we will see what is available for him at that point. The goal will be to have him enrolled in full time studies so that your federal funding for him would be activated. As you stated on our telephone conversation, Paul suffers from social anxiety so I would also like Gayle to review his course load carefully to
ensure we are providing him with all the appropriate supports necessary for him to succeed not only at school but also in his employment after his training is complete. Gayle has this listed as a priority for first thing Tuesday morning. I would encourage Paul to contact Gayle early on Tuesday morning so they can discuss which courses he has re-registered for so we can get a plan in place. Take care, Arlene Arlene G. Lambert, CPA, CGA Acting Director - Metis Employment and Training Phone: 1-800-940-1150